Long-term health

Deep impact of crisis on North

GIVEN THAT coronavirus is not just a health crisis but an economic one too, it is deeply troubling that new research suggests the North of England is being hit hardest on both fronts.

Analysis of national statistics by the Northern Health Science Alliance has found that deprived areas in the North are being hit with high rates of Covid deaths, higher death rates from all causes and particularly suffering from greater rates of increases in unemployment.

There are now calls in the short-term for Northern hotspots for the virus to be prioritised as Covid antibody testing is rolled out.

But there are also longer term issues at stake.

Economic and health issues are deeply interconnected; as the researchers point out – unemployment rates have a proven link to mental health and suicide figures and are a strong indicator of future health inequalities.

While the very worst of the pandemic may hopefully now be behind the country, the long-term effects the lockdown steps necessary to combat it have had may prove deadly in their own ways.

When Boris Johnson won a convincing majority in December’s General Election, partly on the basis of his promise that his remade Conservative party would ‘level up’ the regions, he could not have imagined the circumstances that would make doing so more important than ever before just six months later.

But to try and prevent terrible long-term problems and a further widening of the North-South divide, public health, economic and social measures will be urgently needed to prioritise the areas most affected by this pandemic.